Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Wondrous Words Wednesday, and a Winner


New words for the new year, from guess where?  I found these in my 2014 365 New Words-a-Year calendar.  My page-a-day calendar is chock-full of wonderful words, and once again, I'm putting it to use.


1. ab initio: from the beginning

Ab initio is a Latin term and is on the first page of this 2014 calendar.  It's a clever opening!


2. gambol: to skip about; frolic

The school children would gambol happily in the park on field trips.

This word may be used as a verb or as a noun, and is used mostly in relation to children or animals.  I should have known this word, which is French in origin, and which originally referred to the spring of a jumping horse. 


3. zillionaire: a person of incalculably great wealth

Yes, it's really a word!  This word is not used in the most formal writing, but it's been used in many serious publications.  According to my calendar, the turn of the century brought with it a turn of fortune, and by the 1940s we needed words to describe this wealth--millionaire, billionaire, and even zillionaire!  How many zeros are in a zillion?  Although it's a real word, it's used as an indefinite, fictitious number, in a comic sense for exaggeration, so there's no set number of zeros in a zillion.

0000000000000000000000000000....  

The winner of my extra 365 New Words-a-Year calendar is Lady in Read from MyRandRSpace.  Congratulations, Lady in Read!  I'm certain you'll enjoy this word-a-day calendar, which is a sensational source of new words!  Perhaps you'll use it as I do, for Wondrous Words Wednesday.  (If you didn't win this desk calendar, you may be able to find a discounted copy somewhere, as calendars go on sale after the start of a new year.)




Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme for wordies, created and hosted by Kathy from BermudaOnion's Weblog.  What new words have wowed you recently?

15 comments:

  1. Zillionaire is really a word? Who knew? Congratulations to Lady in Read!

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  2. Well done to the winner, I love zillionaire but didn't realize it was an actual word.

    Lainy http://www.alwaysreading.net

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  3. Congrats! to the winner of an interesting word book.

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  4. Congratulations to Lady in Read. All of these words are wonderful!

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  5. Congrats to Lady in Read! Love that zillionaire is a real word.

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  6. We tell the kids a zillion times not to exaggerate - lloks like they win after all!!!

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  7. Nice to know there is no set number of zeros in zillion, who knew? Congrats to "Lady in Read".

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  8. I love finding new and unusual words especially when reading. There are so many that we so rarely use. Thanks for throwing a few at us!

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  9. Ab initio is so close to the Italian expression, al inizio, which means the beginning. Love the word zillionaire!

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  10. I also didn't realize that zillionaire is an actual word. You learn something new every day!

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  11. I like ab initio. It sort of feels like it's meaning -- if you know what I mean? I love the word-a-day calendars. This is the first Christmas no one has bought me one. Guess I'll need to buy it myself.

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  12. Loving that zillionaire is actually a word :)

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  13. I've seen and heard zillionaire, but not the other two.

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